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President Obama had a terrible debate last week. Supporters and opponents were shocked that he could be so off his game. They shouldn't have been. That they were indicates that they don't understand Obama's serious, likely insurmountable re-election problem.

Obama supporters and detractors expect the old Obama to show better form in the next debate. But that is not going to happen! It cannot, because Obama's critical problem is not correctable.

Obama's Real Problem

The media seemed more surprised by Obama's performance than Romney's. It was Romney who was the surprise and exposed Obama's Achilles heel. Daniel Henninger observed (my emphasis added):

... no one expected or predicted that Barack Obama could be so pushed off his game or look so flustered in a contest of articulating ideas.

Obama's problem, to put it politely, is his looseness with facts. He is the quintessential "sound-bite" president. Truth for him is whatever he chooses it to be, whatever is necessary to turn things in his favor. His self-aggrandizement and arrogance, coupled with a hero-worshiping media, has enabled him to such an extent that it is possible that he no longer believes there is truth other than what he wants it to be. That is his problem, and it has been reinforced for most of his life.

Obama created his own fantasy bubble. He began by inventing history in two so-called autobiographies. Challenging anything in his self-created Alice in Wonderland world brought automatic charges of racism and other attacks from his defenders. After years of living in his bubble, one wonders whether Mr. Obama even knows objectivity or truth. This psychopathology was reinforced by admirers to the extent that Obama has made it a key tool in his political arsenal.

Until last week, it barely mattered. No one called him on it. Then Mr. Romney jumped into Obama's bubble, bursting it in front of millions of viewers. Obama was run over by a blizzard of facts, few of which he even tried to counter. Romney's buzzsaw approach was respectful but relentless. All Obama could offer were empty campaign slogans and other platitudes.

Slogans and false claims may work with Kool Aid imbibers. Non-worshipers, however, are capable of differentiating between hard data and BS. The head-to-head conversation between these two candidates was not filtered through the media. It was devastating for Mr. Obama.

...he no longer believes there is truth other than what he wants it to be. That is his problem, and it has been reinforced for most of his life.

Obama created his own fantasy bubble.

Romney: “The third area: energy. Energy is critical, and the president pointed out correctly that production of oil and gas in the U.S. is up. But not due to his policies. In spite of his policies. Mr. President, all of the increase in natural gas and oil has happened on private land, not on government land. On government land, your administration has cut the number of permits and license in half."